In a World Belonging to the Dead
by princessmikey14
Summary: Valerie has been through a lot. She now only has one family member left, her twelve year old niece named Saige, and she plans to do anything and everything to keep her alive. So it seems that fate is on their side when they stumble upon a woman on a horse. Daryl/OC.
1. Chapter 1

"C'mon, Saige, please keep up, sweetheart."

"Val, just leave me!" the smaller dark haired girl exclaimed. Valerie gave her a stern look over her shoulder.

"That's no happening, and you know it!"

They were covered in rotting guts and smelled of death. They just needed to get to safety. Valerie knew that Saige wouldn't hold up much longer out in the open…They had been fine up until a few weeks ago! Their group had dropped from ten to two in mere hours. Saige was not Valerie's daughter, but her niece. They were close and all…but Valerie still wasn't a parent to her and the little girl still had to suffer being an orphan at the age of twelve. She didn't have anybody except Valerie.

"Aunt Val…I don't know how much farther I can go…" Saige panted. Making the quick decision that she'd rather die than let her last family member do the same, Valerie picked up the little girl that weighed about thirty pounds less than her-before it was closer to fifty when they weren't malnourished. "You can't carry me!"

"The hell I can't!"

Despite the fact that they smelled just as the dead did, they were still chasing them because of the cut on Saige's arm. They'd been fleeing from their latest 'haven' when her arm had slipped on a piece of broken glass still attached to the frame of the window.

"Val, is that a horse?" Saige asked, causing the older brunette to pause and look over to her left. Indeed there was a big brown horse standing a few yards away with an African American woman with dreadlocks on the back of it.

Rather than calling out and being stupid about it, Valerie took off in the direction of the woman. She had seen them before they were right on her and had pulled out a large sword.

"Don't move another inch," she warned, her tone dark and menacing. "Who are you?"

"Valerie Daniels, this is my niece Saige…Please, there's walkers on our tail…Do you have a camp? Somewhere safe?" Valerie's tone was pleading and Michonne could even sense the anguish the young woman had been through.

"The rules are I ask you three questions. You answer them correctly, I can bring you back."

"Go for it," Valerie said. "But hurry…"

"What did you do before this?" she asked.

"I was a nurse…"

"Have you ever killed a living person?"

"No, not one that wasn't already gone…" Valerie had been responsible for putting her family members down before they turned, she couldn't allow them to live as a flesh eating monster.

"Would you ever kill another person if you could avoid it?" Michonne asked.

"Never," Valerie confirmed.

"C'mon, I'll take you back there."

"I'll take you to see the doctors, get you examined first," Michonne told both Saige and Valerie as they rode the horse through the gates of the prison.

"Thank you so much…I really appreciate this." Michonne didn't reply. She only stopped her horse and they all got off.

"Who's this?" A dark haired man with a crossbow slung over his shoulder asked, sauntering over to Michonne, Valerie, and Saige. He seemed like he could be intimidating if he was trying, but he wasn't at that moment.

"I'm Valerie," she said. Michonne could've forgotten her name for all she knew and she might as well introduce herself. "This is Saige."

"M'Daryl," he said, not bothering to hold out his hand.

"I was just taking them to the infirmary," Michonne said. "Would you mind to? I'd like to get back out there. There's a horde of walkers movin' our way."

Daryl nodded. "Yeah, c'mon," he told the two. Valerie nodded, holding Saige's hand and following the blue eyed man inside of the prison. "We can set ya up with yer own cell," he said. "'S what all the people we let in get."

"How many people are there?" Valerie asked.

"Fifty or so. We were 'lot smaller, only 'bout fifteen of us, then we started takin' people in."

"So anybody that comes through, you give them a place to stay?" Saige asked.

"Kinda," Daryl said. It wasn't that simple, but the girl was just a child and that would be the simplest terms to put it in.

"Are you in charge around here?" Valerie asked, he seemed like it. Something about him was kind of telling her that was, but he lacked the…Arrogance? Confidence, maybe? To be the leader, so she had to ask to know.

"More 'er less," was the only explanation he gave. He still thought that Rick was supposed to be the leader but he'd sworn off that position in hope to protect his son and daughter and raise them better. Valerie wasn't going to press him further for answers, she could accept what he gave. "This is cell block C, we're walkin' through."

"Will this be where we stay?" she asked.

"Dunno yet. Gotta find out where's empty. D's also one we use. Might be full though."

"What about A and B? Do they have walkers?"

Daryl shook his head. "They're clean. We jus' don't use 'em yet. Not 'nough people."

"Oh," Valerie said. They walked into infirmary and found another man; a bald man was in there.

"Bob, this is Valerie an' Saige," Daryl introduced.

"Pleased to meet you both," Bob said, extending his hand. "Where are you from?"

"Southern Tennessee," Valerie said. That was a vague description, but specifics didn't matter anymore.

"Cool, cool," he pulled out a clipboard and instructed them to take a seat.

"M'gonna go find an' empty cell," Daryl said and slipped out of the room. He thought that they would need privacy.

"Okay, I have some simple heath-type questions to ask you," Bob said. "Both of you that is…"

"Shoot," Valerie said, crossing her legs, waiting for him to begin his questioning.

"I'm gonna need your last name."

"Daniels-both of us. D-A-N-I-E-L-S."

"Ages?"

"34."

"12."

"Any food allergies?"

"None."

"Blood type?"

"I'm O positive," Valerie said. "She's…" she paused trying to remember. "AB negative…"

"A rare one," Bob murmured, making a note of it. "Medical allergies?"

"I don't know about her, but I don't have any. Saige, do you know if you have any medical allergies?"

"I don't know…My mommy always took care of that."

"Are there anymore questions?" Bob shook his head. Daryl returned a moment later.

"C'mon, I'll show ya to yer cell," he said. Valerie and Saige stood up and followed him back the way they came to cell block C. They went up the steps and to an empty cell in the middle. "Ya wanna share with each other, right?" he asked.

"Yes," Valerie said right away. "Thank you very much," she gave him a kind smile.

"Mm, I'll have Carol find ya some clothes."

It had been a week since Valerie and Saige had arrived at the prison. Saige had become fast friends with a little girl named Mika and her sister Lizzie, and two older boys-Carl and Patrick. She preferred to hang out with Carl and Patrick because they were more mature about the whole 'walker situation'. Valerie enjoyed spending time with Carol-who she met to be a woman with short-gray hair that gave off a motherly air to her, there was Maggie-she was about ten years younger than Valerie, but she was smart and witty. Maggie also had a younger sister who was about eighteen and was one of the nicest people Valerie had ever met. Valerie liked Glenn too, he was Maggie's boyfriend and so smart. And there was Daryl. Daryl was so sarcastic at times, but he was great to be around. If Valerie was honest, he was her favorite person-other than Saige-to hang out with. He'd been a little weary of her at first-she quickly learned that he was a man of few words-but he quickly warmed up. Carol had told her that he was like that to everybody at first and he was still getting used to being the 'leader'.

Currently, Valerie was sitting in the library where Carol was teaching the kids about weapons. She found it to be a great idea and she stepped in whenever she could help. Nobody else-save Daryl-knew about their set up. Typically, Valerie was keeping watch because Carol said she was having 'story time' with the children, not teaching them to wield weapons.

"Someone's coming," Valerie said. "Oh wait-It's just Daryl," she said, seeing the edge of his crossbow.

"Hey, Val, m'goin' on a run. Wanna go?" Daryl asked. He gave Carol a nod too, noticing her there.

"Uh, we're we goin'?" Valerie asked.

"A store, not too far 'way; yer good with yer knives." It was true; Valerie was able to throw her knives at a distance of about thirty feet.

"Carol would you mind looking after Saige?" The brunette woman asked.

"No problem," the other woman replied.

"Thanks so much. Bye Saige, sweetie, I love you."

"I love you too, Aunt Val."

**AN: I know for a first chapter it was short…and kind of weird, quite honestly. It was kind of a drabble idea I had, since I haven't gotten any for any of my other stories :/. Please review and let me know if y'all like it enough for me to continue. **


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: THIS STORE IS NOT BIG SPOT! This is before that...I had a different idea that I needed to add.**

"Was this a good idea?" Valerie asked Daryl as they walked into an abandoned grocery store. She had a knife gripped tightly in her hands. It was just the two of them and she was a little worried.

"Ya ain't scared, are ya?"

"Little bit," she admitted.

"Don't be," he said, leading the way. They both turned at the sound of a whimper. It sounded very child like, and Daryl being the brave man that he was, went right for it. If it was a child, or even another survivor, they needed help. Val followed, keeping an eye open for danger. But, all she saw were the shelves barren, in favor of everything being shoved to the floor. There was broken glass and various food in different states of rotting. She was just thankful that they hadn't come across a walker.

As they neared the bathroom area, they began to hear growls and the crying intensified. What came into view wasn't much of a shock. There were people-walkers rather-gathered around one shelf where at the top there was nothing more than a small brown haired girl. She couldn't have been more than four or five and she was clutching a pink bunny. Silently, Daryl and Valerie agreed to take out the walkers-knives and arrows flew everywhere. Once the walkers fell, Valerie walked over to the shelf and Daryl gathered their weapons.

"Little girl?" Val asked. "We're not going to hurt you, sweetheart." The little girl had shoulder length curly hair, dark brown eyes, and pale skin with freckles covering most of it. "I'm Valerie and this is Daryl."

"Mommy..." she whined, cuddling her bunny closer.

"Where's your mommy?" the older woman asked. The curly haired girl simply pointed to the ground, where all of the walkers were. "I'm sorry sweetheart..."

"She dead?" Valerie bit her lip and nodded. She couldn't lie to the girl.

"C'mon, we'll take you some place safe, okay? I've got a niece and there's lots of other kids there..."

"Mommy said nots to talks to strangers."

"You know our names, we're not strangers." Okay, not the best life lesson, but they needed to get the little girl out of the store.

"Bonnie," she said, pointing to herself.

"It's nice to meet you Bonnie," Val said.

"We need to get the stuff, an' go," Daryl said to them.

"My mommy wanted to go in and get some food for me, so my uncle an' my daddy an' my big brother all took me in the store...and then that's when those things came. My mommy picked me up and put me on the shelf, she told me to stay with Hop Scotch-my bunny...and I did...But they all died and tried to eat me," Bonnie sobbed by telling her story to Valerie and Daryl back at the prison. Valerie pulled her into a hug.

"They can't hurt ya now," Daryl told her, hoping to offer some comfort.

"What if they do?" she asked, looking up at him with teary brown eyes. They had learned that she was five and very smart for her age. She had told them about how she was supposed to start kindergarten already but her mommy said that she couldn't and that had made her sad.

"They won't," he said confidently. Bonnie let go of Valerie and moved to Daryl's side before hugging him too.

"Thank you," she murmured against his side. Valerie couldn't help the small smile creep onto her face. Despite how much of a 'tough guy' Daryl acted like…he was a good person and would probably make a good dad…

"C'mon, let's getcha back safe."

"Who's this?" Beth asked happily, seeing the little three year old walk in with Valerie. Daryl was busy with some of the other guys unloaded the car. They'd grabbed the supplies they needed before bringing Bonnie back to the prison.

"This is Bonnie," Valerie said. "Bonnie, meet Beth."

"You have pretty hair," Bonnie said. "I wish I had blonde hair." Beth smiled.

"No, I like your hair, it's so curly."

"My mommy had blonde hair like you."

"Oh hey," a younger man, Zach said, walking out to where Beth, Bonnie, and Valerie were gathered.

"Hey, Zach," Valerie greeted.

"Glad you came back," he said.

"You're cute," Bonnie said. "Will you be my boyfriend?" she asked, sending Beth into a fit of laughter.

"Honey, he's already Beth's boyfriend," Valerie said, chuckling slightly.

"But he can have two…Please?" she begged.

"C'mon Zach, be the girl's boyfriend," Beth said. Zach smiled and then nodded at Bonnie. He figured that it couldn't hurt anything. She was just a little kid and she didn't even really understand what that meant. Bonnie hugged his leg tightly and he smiled, patting her head lightly.

"So, Val," Zach said. "You and Daryl seem close, what do you think he did before the apocalypse?"

"Uh…" Valerie said. "I don't know. We don't talk much about that…"

"Do you think he was a bank robber maybe? I mean he's got those stealthy skills and people are afraid of him…"

"Sure, Zach, let's go with that," Valerie nodded. The kid had been trying to guess for months now, unsuccessfully.

"I'm going to go use my daily guess, where is he?" the brown haired teenager asked.

"Outside."

"Great! I'll be back," he gave Beth a quick kiss on the lips and patted Bonnie's head once more before leaving. Beth and Valerie shared a look of humor. That was one nice thing about Zach, he brought humor to the group sometimes, it was always funny to be a part of a conversation between him and Daryl. Zach would say something stupid and then Daryl would give him a smart ass answer in response. And there was always the guessing game Zach continuously tried to play. Valerie hadn't been there when it started, but apparently for a while Zach had bombarded him with questions so Daryl limited with one.

"Val, guess what?" Beth said happily.

"What?" Valerie responded.

"We've gone 29 days without any problems! I think that things are finally looking up!"

Little did Beth know, those words would be nothing but that once they reached day 30. Things never looked up in the apocalypse. When you were finally standing on two feet, it would come through and knock flat on your face once more.

**AN: Your reviews were great last chapter. I wanted to get this up before the new episode, so please keep doing what you're doing and review :)**


	3. Chapter 3

More time past, things in the prison were becoming more and more like home for Valerie. She loved Bonnie like she was her own child, Saige was enjoying getting to spend time with children her own age, and for the most part, the people were great at the prison. Valerie was as happy as she could be, to apocalypse standards anyway.

"Do you have any requests, I'm going back out there," Michonne said, while Valerie was cooking outside, people were sitting around at tables.

"Um," she thought about it. There were so many things from the old world that she missed. "A book, something good…Something classic…"

"So something old," Michonne said, giving the younger girl a smile.

"So what, yes."

"That's it? You're going to waste your one wish on a book? We've got a library…"

"Not with anything great in it!" Valerie countered. "Fine, my back up is scented soap."

"That's more like it," Michonne said before going on her way back out of the prison.

"Hey Daryl!"  
"Daryl!"  
A chorus of different people were calling Daryl as he walked over to where Valerie was standing with the food. "Well somebody's popular," she said. Daryl just shrugged. "It's because you're a hero, y'know."

"Didn't do anythin' nobody else does," he said.

"No, but you did it," she smiled.

"You've saved people since ya've been with us too, they don't react to you that way," he pointed out.

"Maybe they think you're hot," she said with a slight grin. Daryl scoffed even louder than before.

"Yer not funny," he said.

"Val!" A small voice called, coming closer to where Valerie and Daryl were standing. "Daryl!" she called, noticing him. She ran straight for him, begging to be picked up almost. He complied and lifted her up. "You saved me! Carl and Patrick are going to get me!" she exclaimed.

"Bonnie!" Patrick yelled, running from the same direction she came from.

Bonnie screamed and latched onto Daryl. He didn't understand why, but the little girl was attached to him. Saige came running along after them. "C'mon Bonnie, we can win, Lizzie got the flag!" the red haired girl called.

"Put me down," Bonnie said to Daryl. He complied yet again and she ran along quickly.

"Wow," Valerie said. "I can't believe how far we've all come…Saige hadn't seen anybody her age."

"Before, when it was jus' a couple a people outside of Atlanta, there wasn't even this many kids," Daryl said. "Maybe five or six, but now there's more…"

"Really? I guess that's a good thing…That people have kept their kids alive…" He nodded and l rubbed his lips together before looking up at me.

"Me and a few others are going to a store to scavenge. Wanna come? Be my backup?"

"Okay," Val replied. "Lemme get some stuff together. Where do you want to meet up?"

"Out front."

"See you there," she replied.

About an hour later, Bob, Daryl, Valerie, Zack, Michonne, and Glenn were all outside of the Big Spot store. "How'd you draw out all of the walkers?" Daryl asked.

"Set up a stereo, hooked it up to a car battery," Michonne replied.

"Okay, so I've got it figured out," Zack said. He was back to his guessing game for what Daryl was before the apocalypse. "You're smart, but you look like this rough, tough, bad guy. We you an undercover cop?"

"Yeah," Daryl said, humoring the boy. It was hard for Valerie to keep from laughing.

"Really? I got it right?" Zack exclaimed triumphantly.

"Really," Daryl replied with a smirk.

"Oh dammit, you're just screwin' with me!" Valerie too couldn't keep from laughing. No matter what the 'evidence' Zack had found, she knew that Daryl most defiantly wasn't an undercover cop before this.

They started their scavenging by going into the store and looking around. It was abundant with plenty of supplies and food, it was great. They could take some now and come back for more later, even.

"Hey, Val, come look at this," Zack called. Valerie turned to where Zack was standing and walked over to him. He was behind a stand with little odds and ends on the front but when she walked to where he was with her cart there were stuffed animals, lions, tigers, bears, and unicorns. "Do you think Saige and Bonnie will like them?" he asked.

"I think they'll love them. Lizzie and Mika too."

"Good," he grabbed one of each and tossed them into her cart. Valerie smiled; the boy was so sweet sometimes. He was one of the people that she had genuinely liked as soon as they had met. He was a good person.

"You should find something for Beth. Something she'll love," Valerie suggested.

"What do you think she'll like?" he asked.

"Perfume maybe? That could be nice, and then she could smell something other than blood and sweat…"

"Good idea," he said. "Thank you."

"Thank you for the toys."

Valerie continued around the store, only to find Daryl in a small section (a really small section) of camping supplied. Behind them there was an array of candles of all scents. "We can always use these," Valerie said, picking up nearly all of the glass jars and putting them in the cart.

"Yeah, if the power goes out like las' month we can still have light," Daryl agreed. "Can you shoot a crossbow?" he asked her. She turned and looked at him for the first time since they'd been in that section of the store.

"No…" she said carefully. She wasn't sure where he was going with this line of questioning.

"I got 'nother one back at camp that I ain't usin' an' I figure it'd be good for someone else to be able to shoot it," he said.

"Are you offering to teach you how to shoot a crossbow?" Valerie asked. Daryl shrugged.

"If ya wanna learn."

"Well, you realize that'll mean you're gonna be stuck with me alone for quite some time." He just shrugged. He could handle that, they'd been alone before. It wasn't like that'd be anything new, plus he counted her as a pretty close friend already. "I'd love to learn, Daryl."

"Good, we start tomorrow."

Everything happened so suddenly. Out of nowhere there were walkers falling from the ceiling. Valerie pushed her cart to the exit and expected everyone to be right behind her, but that wasn't the case. Nobody was actually. She was the closest, right up by the checkout lane. So, rather than being an 'every man for themselves' kind of person, she ran back in and tried to locate the members of the scavenging group. She found Daryl and Zack together, with a few walkers around them. She threw two knives and took out two of the aforementioned walkers before sending Zack towards the exit. He was just a kid, in her eyes, and needed to go to safety.

"Where's Bob?" Valerie asked Daryl.

"Dunno."

"Guys!" Glenn's voice called. They both took off after the sound of his voice and found him pinned down by a display with three walkers around him. Daryl and Valerie worked together quickly to take them out before flinging the case off of Glenn.

"Might as well switch to guns," Daryl told them. There was no sense in risking their asses to retrieve the bolt or the knife if the walkers were going to come no matter what.

The three searched for Bob and Michonne, but quickly learned that the roof was caving in on them. They happened across Bob while his foot was caught under a shelf that had once housed wine. "Daryl, Glenn, you two life the shelf, I'll pull Bob out," Valerie told her male counterparts.

They did as she said and at the last minute Michonne came out and helped too. The four quickly hurried out of the store and to the truck where Zack was with the supplies (still in the carts) but in the back of the truck.

"C'mon we gotta hurry, 'fore those things come outta there," Daryl said.

"I'm sittin' the bed so the stuff doesn't fly away," Zack told everyone. Michonne, Bob, and Glenn climbed in the back seat of the truck, leaving Daryl to drive and Valerie to sit in the passenger seat. Everyone was quiet on the way back at the fact that everyone from their group had survived the run, they were relaxing a bit. Tonight, they wouldn't have to give out any bad news that somebody's loved one had died out there.


	4. Chapter 4

"I'm glad ya was with us today," Daryl said to Valerie. They were sitting outside looking off into the starry night. Valerie couldn't help but wonder why something so beautiful over looked a world so ugly and full of death.

"Me too," she said, resting her chin on the cool metal bar. Despite the chilliness of the Georgia air, she enjoyed just sitting out there. It was comfortable and seemed so familiar. She remembered evenings when she'd climb out onto the roof that hung below her window and just sit there, alone, staring at the night sky above her, secretly wishing to be among the stars, rather than firmly planted to the ground.

"I think we woulda lost people if ya hadn't a been there," Daryl added.

"Maybe…But I think you could've saved them. You're a good leader for these people."

"Rick's better."

"I wasn't here when he was leader…But I think you're doing a pretty damn good job. I mean you've kept everybody alive, you can go on runs….He's got kids to worry about. It makes it difficult to have to worry about your children while you're gone…" Valerie knew from experience, but they weren't her children. Bonnie and Saige were important to her, but she knew it would be different if she'd been the one to give life to them.

"Don't ya worry 'bout Bonnie an' Saige?" Daryl asked. She found it funny that she'd just been thinking about that.

"Of course I do. But I know that they're safe and that I'm out there helping the group. I feel like I have to pull my weight, and if going out on runs is what it takes, I'll do that."

"If ya ever don't wanna go out there, ya don't have to," he felt that he _had_ to say something about that. He enjoyed having her as his backup out there. He could trust her somehow, but if she wanted to stay at the prison, he could understand that too.

"And what? Sit here? Nah, I'll help you any time that you need it."

"Good. 'Cause tomorrow, we're gonna start yer bow trainin'," he said.

"Oh are we now?"

"Yep."

"And if I don't want to?" she said with a grin. He gave her a sideways look.

"Too bad, yer gonna learn, startin' tomorrow," he decided on with a half smile.

"Y'know what, tomorrow seems like a damn good day to finally sleep in." She gave him a grin. He just shook his head at her and stood up.

"We shoul' be goin' to bed-"

"Daryl, I expect to be wined and dined first," Valerie said, giggling a little.

"Stop," he warned, holding out his hand to her, as she still sat on the ground. She took it with an even larger smile.

"Now I get to hold your hand too, I feel so special," she said as he pulled her to her feet.

"Go git some sleep. Yer gonna need it tomorrow. We're startin' bright an' early." Another large smile passed across her face, of course taking that to mean something else, Daryl simply glared at her.

"Just five more minutes," Valerie complained as Daryl told her to get up. "I don't want to go to school yet," she grabbed her pillow and buried her face in it.

"To bad, c'mon, I warned ya. But 'stead ya wanted to screw around."

"Well of course I did Daryl. The pickings are slim around here," she sat up with a grin. He shook his head and picked up his old bow before handing it to her.

"We're gonna start that shit this early?" he asked. She nodded, grin still across her features.

"Well you're making me get up so yeah. Now give me a minute to get dressed."

"Don't take forever."

"Maybe I want to," she said stubbornly before ushering him out of the cell. She grabbed some random clothes out of her bag-a t-shirt and jeans, tied her boots, and pulled her dark brown hair into a tight pony tail before walking out the cell. Saige had known that she'd be leaving early in the morning, they'd talked the night before when Valerie finally made her way back inside the cell.

"God ya take forever," Daryl said.

"Beauty takes time," she said, mockingly before hitting her hair and making it go outward. When Daryl scoffed, she punched his arm playfully. "You're a brat, you know that?"

"I ain't a brat," he replied, making a face. "I ain't a lil' kid, I can't be a brat."

"Yeah you can," she replied.

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes."

"Now who's the brat?" Daryl asked. "Ya argue yer six."

"No I don't! You argue like you're like five!" She replied, punching his arm again.

"Would ya quit that?"

"Aw did I hurt your muscles?" she made a pouting face at him, earning an eye roll.

"An' I'm a brat."

"Yes, yes you are."

They finally made it outside, arguing the whole way. Daryl half regretted doing this, but to his own surprise, her childish antics were kind of funny. He kind of liked that she was so childish at times, usually that got on his last nerve.

"A'right here, try an' hit those bottles cans," Daryl said to Valerie as the stood in front of where he'd set up a make shift shooting range with empty cans. "Jus' use the crosshairs and line up yer shot, like on a gun."

"Okay," Valerie replied, picking up the crossbow and aiming it like he said. She pulled the trigger and let the arrow fly. Sadly, it stuck in the wood of what the cans were up on. She frowned. He went and got the arrow.

"Try again," he told her. She did, after reloading the bow (which took much effort). Again, it was a near miss as it flew off into the grass. She let out an exasperated sigh. "If I ain't gettin' annoyed yet, ya can't be. It's yer first time tryin', I don't' wanna here this huffin' an' puffin' shit," he warned her.

"Lemme try again," she wouldn't have been annoyed just yet if when she first started shooting, she hadn't been able to hit the target the first time. Guns were a cakewalk compared to crossbows, she learned.

"Jus' focus," he said. She did, and tried once more. This time, she grazed the can. "Better, lemme teach ya a trick," he said. He didn't bother getting the arrow this time. "Load it, 'gain." She pulled one out and loaded the bow before he took stance behind her. "A'right, jus pick a spot in the middle of the can and line it up," he told her. She did, and he put his hands on the crossbow in her hands making sure that it was aimed right. "Keep this on yer shoulder," he said, touching the butt of it. "An' take a deep breath before ya release an' let it out as you shoot."

With him still right there, and his speaking rather close to her ear, she did exactly as he instructed and let the arrow fly right into the can.

"I did it!" she exclaimed, turning around and hugging him, without even thinking about it. He didn't hug her back, he kind of just stayed frozen for a moment, before gently placing a single hand on her shoulder.

"Did ya now?" he asked, taking a line that would've been hers, had he been the one to say it.

"Oh shut it," she said with a laugh.

It was funny how things could fall to pieces in a matter of minutes. By the time Daryl and Valerie had walked back into the prison there was screaming and chaos everywhere. Cell block D was the root of the insanity, as the two learned when they walked in there. A walker had nearly taken a bite out of a small child when Daryl came to the rescue. Valerie took a knife and slung it into the walker's head, it fell to the ground quickly and she pulled the knife from the walker's head and continued to rescue the people living within the cell block. "Val, look out!" Daryl called. She ducked as he fired a bolt into the walker's head.

"Thanks," Valerie said. He nodded and once the chaos had died down Rick and Glenn came up to the second level. "How did this happen?" she asked.

"Who knows," Rick said.

"I found Patrick in here," Glenn said. "He was a walker but he wasn't bitten…"

"So he died of somethin' else?" Daryl asked.

"He must have," Rick agreed.

"But of what? He was well fed and fine yesterday. He was just running around with Bonnie and Saige…"

"What if he was sick some how…" Glenn suggested. "Like a flu…"

"Doesn't that mean he'll spread it to other people though," Val said. "Oh my God…Saige…Bonnie…Everybody in this damn cell block! What the hell's gonna happen-"

"Shh, Val. Ya gotta calm the hell down," Daryl said. Stressing wouldn't do any good. "We don't know nothin' yet. Everythin' could be fine."

Little did any of them know, Daryl could not have been any more wrong…This was just the beginning of what was to come their way…

**AN: I hope you guys liked this longer chapter. Sure, I've written longer for other stories, but this is the longest one for this chapter. I don't know all of the events for season four, but I'm trying here…**


	5. Chapter 5

"Karen's sick…" Rick said, as he and Daryl made their way to the area of the prison where Valerie and Glenn were sitting, just staring off into space. "We quarantined her in one of the cells…" he told them. The two of them nodded. They couldn't really be around their loved ones because of this damn virus. Glenn couldn't associate with Maggie and Valerie couldn't talk to Saige or Bonnie. It was rough on all of them.

"How's Ty taking it?" Valerie asked.

"Not well," Rick replied.

"Of course not," she said.

"Hopefully it doesn't spread…Maybe we have a chance because she lived there…We didn't," Glenn said, referring to cellblock D.

"Maybe…" Daryl replied. "But we shoul' be safe anyway, still no communicatin' with people who weren't there. We don' wanna not be safe."

"I know…But maybe we would've caught it by now if we did have it," she suggested hopefully. "I just don't understand why this has to happen. Haven't we all been through enough?" she hated not knowing.

"Shit happens," Daryl said. "We've all been through hell an' back, this is jus' 'nother thing to keep us from livin' a normal life…" Didn't he speak the truth?

"'Til we know me, we're just going to have to stick to the plan," Rick said.

It had been another day. Valerie was still happy not to be sick. She and Glenn were spending some more quality time together, just talking. They'd already gone over beloved childhood memories and what they had wanted to be when they grew up and everything…Now they were silent. Rick came walking through rubbing his hand and disappearing. Valerie and Glenn shared a look before Daryl entered the room, to explain, they guessed.

"It's Karen," he began.

"What's wrong with her? Did she…die?" Valerie asked. She hoped not…Because then this virus would kill a person in a matter of days.

"Not from the virus…Some asshole took 'er out to the courtyard and…They burned 'er body…Ty went nuts. He an' Rick got in a fight…"

"What do you mean…Somebody burned her body?"

"Killed 'er, guess they wanted to stop the spread…" Daryl sighed.

"What!? How can they do that!? What the hell kind of thing is that?"

"I don' know, Val. It jus' ain't righ, be we're gonna find 'em an' take care a it. I'll put a bolt in their head myself if I have to," he said with much conviction.

Valerie had been up all night, simply walking the grounds of the prison. As per Rick and Hershel's suggestion, she was avoiding anybody and everybody that wasn't in cellblock D. If you were in there, you were either going to get sick or you weren't. She'd theorized that it was only going to attack a certain group. Most likely the young and the old, meaning, she couldn't go around Saige or Bonnie at all. The pool of people she could talk to was limited. It wasn't like she was the social butterfly to begin with, but now those numbers were even lower. Daryl, Rick, and Glenn were pretty much it, it seemed like. But then again, going against her theory…Karen had been sick and she was gone. She couldn't get the poor woman off of her mind, Karen had been burned to death by one of their own. Who would do such a thing?

"Ya shoul' be sleepin'," Daryl said, sneaking up on her. She jumped in surprise.

"Jesus Daryl! You're going to kill me before this virus does!" she exclaimed.

"Stop. This lil' bug ain't gonna kill ya," he said. "Ya survived all on yer own with jus' a kid, I think yer gonna be fine."

"I hope so…" she replied, hugging her middle. "I just…those kids need me, y'know? What happens if I do leave them? What if they die because of that?"

"I'll make sure they're well takin' care of," he said. "But I don't need ta. Yer gonna be fine, a'right?"

"When did you become so comforting?" She asked. Daryl wasn't ever like this. He kind of just shrugged.

"If yer not gonna go to bed, I'm walkin' with ya," he said. He couldn't sleep either. The worry of this spreading and killing them all was eating away at him. Why? Why could this be the thing to take them out after this long…How was that even fair? They'd battled dead people for crying out loud!

"Company could be nice," Valerie commented. "I mean you're no George Clooney but…" she grinned looking at him; it was her crappy attempt at lightening the mood. It clearly hadn't worked so she frowned and looked at her feet. "Sometimes I wonder what it would've been like if my family had followed through with their plan in the beginning…" she said. "Everything could've been so easy…Saige wouldn't have had to lose her parents…She wouldn't have to be stuck with me…And we wouldn't have to worry about this Goddamn virus."

"What was yer family gonna do in the beginning?" Daryl asked. She looked up at him and frowned further.

"Promise you won't think less of me?" she asked. He nodded. "Well…"

_ "So here's what we do," Adrian, her older brother said to Valerie, their father, and their younger brother Mark. "It's simple, we take out the gun and we do the shooting…Take out everyone so that nobody has to suffer. And in the end, when it's just me and you, Val, we shot each other same time…Fast, easy, and so little suffering," Adrian finished. _

_ "That way nobody gets blood on their hands but us, either," Mark said. None of them believed in suicide, so they couldn't just shoot themselves. They needed each other. _

_ "Except us," Ryan, her father reasoned. "Adrian, son, you're a great boy and I love you…But can you really shoot Saige, Kim? Your mother? I can't imagine shooting any one of you children and you're all grown!" _

_ "Val, what do you think, Adrian asked. _

_ "I don't-I don't know! I don't have a husband, a daughter, anything. This is not my choice! But, personally, I don't want to just kill myself! Isn't that the coward's way out?" _

_ "No, that's the thing, we're saving ourselves from all of this…this fear, we're sparing Saige, Kim, everyone. No fear, we get to go out on our own terms, fast and easy." _

_ "I will not let you kill my grandbaby!" Ryan exclaimed. "She's my one and only grandchild and I won't let you kill her," he shoved his son back, in hope to knock some sense into him. "Mark, you need some Goddamn sense knocked into you too! What about Jess, you're just going to go over and shoot the only woman that has ever loved you back? You cannot be serious."_

_ "Wait, Daddy," Valerie said. "What if they're right…If I did have a husband or a fiancée…I wouldn't want them to die like this…They need die with dignity." _

_ "You can't be serious!" _

_ "I am, Daddy…" _

_ Valerie could tell that her father wasn't happy…But he would go along with it, if that was what everyone thought was best. _

_ "Maybe y'all are right…Just…Maybe…" he sighed. _

_ Before they could do anything, there were walkers everywhere. They were outside, tearing at the walls and doors and windows that had been boarded up. It was the definition of chaos when they actually got in. One bit Adrian's neck first, and then when Kim came over to assist him, she got bit too. Valerie picked up Saige and ran for the back door, Mark and Jess were behind her, but something got Jess…Valerie lost sight of Mark, her mother, and father, so she just ran with Saige…_

"Eventually…I found Michonne in the woods and ended up here," Valerie finished her story.

"I don't blame ya for wantin' to take an easier way out," Daryl said. Valerie wiped her cheeks, not even realizing she had been crying. To her surprise, Daryl actually wrapped an arm around her shoulders. He didn't show affection, ever. This was certainly new to her…But she kind of liked it…She felt almost safe next to him. In this world, that was possibly the closest thing to safe she would ever get…Even if she had the thought of the virus looming over her shoulders.

"I'm glad I found all of you guys…" she whispered, leaning into him further.

"I'm glad Michonne found ya," Daryl murmured almost so lowly that she couldn't' hear him. He was quickly realizing that he liked her…a lot. She wasn't like any of the other women at the prison. He truly enjoyed her company and he really had liked teaching her to use the crossbow.

She turned and looked over at him, meeting his blue eyes for a moment. She saw a glimmer of something she hadn't seen there before…Something strange yet promising. "In this short while that I've known you…It's been the best part of all of this…All of this heartache and pain…I'm so glad that I got to meet such a wonderful man…Daryl…"

He didn't say anything. He went to follow the instincts that he hadn't in what seemed like decades. He'd been following the instincts that told him to survive, but not his other instincts. He looked deeply into her eyes and was ready to take her lips between his. But then the most unfortunate thing happened, she pulled away and coughed three times into her elbow.

**AN: Not my best…It was kind of broken up at the beginning (because I added that stuff later). The stuff with Daryl and Valerie outside was what I wrote first but then I forgot about having to kill off Karen so I added it at the beginning. Please review anyhow though :)**


	6. Chapter 6

"I guess you're glad you didn't kiss me now," Valerie said, trying to lighten the mood. To her surprise, Daryl had come to visit her in her solitary confident. She was with all of the other sick people in cell Block A.

"Yer gonna get better," he said. Usually he didn't try to give his hopes up. But this…was different. He had really wanted to kiss her the other night; he didn't know what it was. Maybe part of it was that she didn't know about Merle and that she was the first person that hadn't had the chance to judge him based upon his brother. In the beginning everyone had pegged him to be just like his older brother, and later on they still held some comparison of the two. Valerie just knew him as Daryl Dixon. Not Daryl Dixon, Merle Dixon's baby brother.

"I know, I'm too stubborn to let this damn thing kill me," he was on the other side of some plastic thing to keep the germs from passing from person to person. "Maybe if I was as stubborn as you, I wouldn't have caught it."

"I got too much shit to do, I don' need to get sick," he almost cracked a smile. He couldn't help but think that this was why he kept himself from getting too attached to people. If he wasn't attached he wouldn't feel bad when something happened. Because something bad always happened.

"When I'm better, I do expect that kiss from you though, Dixon," Valerie said, pulling her knees up close to her. Seeing Daryl in here was helping to make her feel better already. His blue eyes were warm and made her happy.

"A'right, ya get better an' I'll kiss ya," he said. Her heart fluttered a little bit. The promise that she would actually kiss Daryl made her want to get better. She didn't know what it was, whether it was the fact that she hadn't been anybody in so long or that she actually liked Daryl. Perhaps she just craved that human closeness, you know the kind where that other human isn't trying to eat your flesh off? "M'goin' on a run. Some veterinary hospital Hershel knows 'bout. Said there'd be somethin' we can use there to make y'all better," he stood from the chair. She followed suit and looked at him carefully through the plastic glass.

"Don't do that…You don't need to risk your life to save us…" She said.

"I do," Daryl said. "'S kinda my job 'round 'ere. Savin' people who need it."

"Be careful…please," she pleaded. "You need to come back here safe so you can give me that kiss."

"An' ya need to be 'live so I can give it to ya," he replied. "Thought ya might want this," he held up a book. _To Kill a Mockingbird _by Harper Lee. "Ya said ya liked it once, if I remember right."

"I did. That was really thoughtful of you, thank you so much Daryl." He nodded and gave her a nod before heading out the door of the cell block.

It was boring being in solitary confinement. Valerie had nothing to do, she was trying to read her book, but her thoughts kept turning to the promise of a kiss from Daryl. She wondered what it would be like. Would it be rough and rugged like him? Would it be passionate? Or would he surprise her and give her a slow, sweet, and gentle kiss? There were so many questions that she wanted so badly to be answered.

She could only hope that he would be back really soon.

**AN: I know, it was really, really short. I'm sorry, I wanted to catch up with the show. I'm gonna go watch the episode from last night here in a few so that I can get the next chapter up to y'all ASAP. Please review. **


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